Bonanza: A 1960's Western TV Show | ReelRundown Bonanza: A 1960's Western TV Show Bonanza: A 1960's Western TV Show Updated on October 31, 2016 Joined: 5 years agoFollowers: 335Articles: 48 Stars of 1960s Western TV Show Bonanza The Cartwrights of Bonanza TV Series | Source Bonanza's Cartwright Family Bonanza was a weekly TV Western series during the 1960s, which followed the trials and tribulations of the Cartwright clan. The patriach of the family was Ben Cartwright, portrayed by Lorne Greene. He was a three time widowed rancher with three sons, all by different wives: Adam (Pernell Roberts), Eric "Hoss" (Dan Blocker) and "Little Joe" (Michael Landon). The main story line for the weekly episode centered around either Ben or one of the sons, thus giving each actor more exposure and a chance for each character to grow. The stars had equal billing and Bonanza's opening credits changed each week alternating the order of the stars.

For 14 years and 431 episodes, millions of viewers tuned in to watch the popular western TV show and to see the beautiful scenery of the ranch called The Ponderosa as the TV series was one of the first to be broadcast in color. It is the second longest running western show in television history behind the series Gunsmoke. Advertisement Dan Blocker, much loved by the fans | Source The Next Generation of Cartwrights on Bonanza Sadly, Dan Blocker passed away suddenly during the 13th season. His fans were shocked and devastated. Bonanza never recuperated from both the loss of the lovable character Hoss and a time slot change from Sunday nights (where it had always aired) to Tuesday nights. It had become a Sunday night ritual for families to watch the show together and it lost many viewers due to the unpopular schedule change. Regrettably, the TV western stopped being produced in the middle of the 14th season. However, that wasn't the end of Bonanza. By popular demand, three TV movies would follow. Unfortunately, they were not received well by the fans, who claimed poor acting and bad story lines as the cause.

The final outcome for the Cartwright family was the characters of Ben, Hoss and Little Joe were all dead. The ranch was being run by Ben Cartwright's brother, Aaron. Adam was the only surviving son but actor Pernell Roberts refused to participate in the TV movies so the script called for him to be living in Australia to explain his absence. Hoss had drowned while saving someone's life and Little Joe was a war hero that was killed in action while riding with Teddy Roosevelt up San Juan Hill and was buried in Arlington Cemetery. In the TV movies, Little Joe was already deceased but had a son, Benjamin (called Benj) and a daughter. The actor playing Little Joe's son was Michael Landon, Jr. The actress that portrayed his daughter looked very much like Little Joe but in real life she is not related to Landon. Dan Blocker's son had a part in the movie as a news reporter because the producers thought he appeared too old to play Hoss' son. Lorne Greene's daughter played the part of Benj's girlfriend. Adam also had a son in the movies, Adam Cartwright, Jr. who was called "A.C." and spoke with an Australian accent.

The accent was certainly out of place on the ranch and Benj showing up in Virginia City driving a car seemed really strange . But the part of the movie that was so unbelievable to fans (including myself) is that Hoss Cartwright had an illegitimate son! That's right! According to the story line, when Hoss accidentally drowned, he was engaged to be married and his fiancee was pregnant! The writers of the original TV series would have never gotten away with such a plot as it was so contrary to the tradition of Bonanza and so out of character for Hoss. With his mild manners and shyness around women, it is hard to believe this of the "gentle giant". His son comes to the Ponderosa searching for his father who he believes deserted his mother, not knowing that Hoss was dead. I have included some clips from the TV movies and I think you will agree that the acting and writing was pretty lame and the stories were not the caliber that fans had come to know and love. Although the original series developed a cult following and is still seen as reruns, you aren't likely to see the Bonanza movies on TV again! Advertisement Pictures of the cast typically shows them with their hats on.

| Source Little Known Bonanza Trivia Did you ever notice that almost every woman that fell in love with a Cartwright died or left town? It jokingly became known among the actors and fans as the "Cartwright Curse". This might be called a "girl thing" but we kept watching each week hoping that one of the Cartwright romances would end in marriage. If for no other reason than to give Hop Sing some help in the kitchen. I always assumed Little Joe was given that nickname because he was the youngest son and not very old when the series began. His mother had been previously married to a man named "Big Joe" who died saving Ben Cartwright's life. Ben and Marie were married and had a son that they named after Marie's deceased husband. Another trivia tidbit that isn't very well known deals with the hair belonging to the actors of the show. Michael Landon was the only one of the main Bonanza actors with a full head of his own hair. Blocker, Roberts and Greene all wore toupees! Maybe that is the reason almost all of the photos of the cast show them with their hats on as pictured here. Advertisement Clip of Little Joe's Wife and Son and Ben's Brother Adam Cartwright, Jr.

Comes to Town Advertisement Hoss' Illegitimate Son Story Comes Out of the Closet Hoss' Son and Joe's Daughter at Hoss' Gravesite Advertisement Four Grandchildren Look at Photos of Original Cartwrights © 2011 Thelma Raker Coffone Dan Blocker - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS Actor | Soundtrack Dan Blocker is one of the true television immortals, having played Hoss Cartwright -- the heart and soul of Bonanza (1959) -- for 13 seasons, before his untimely death in 1972 at the age of 43. "Bonanza" was the most popular TV series of the 1960s, ranked #1 for three straight seasons (1964-65 through 1966-67) and spending a then-unprecedented ...

See full bio » Born: a list of 38 people created 10 Sep 2012 a list of 548 people created 11 May 2015 a list of 31 images created 11 months ago a list of 35 people created 7 months ago a list of 28 images created 1 month ago Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Dan Blocker's work have you seen? User Polls Bonanza Eric 'Hoss' Cartwright / Big Jack Slade (1959-1972) 1959 The Rebel (TV Series) Del Pierce 1959 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (TV Series) Duke 1957-1958 The Restless Gun (TV Series) Olaf Burland / Jub Buckstar / John 'El Bruto' / ... - The Way Back (1958) ... Olaf Burland - Mercyday (1958) ... Jub Buckstar - Man and Boy (1957) ... Fred Burgermen - Jody (1957) ...

Ike Burnett - The Jail at Junction Flats (1958) ... Hognose M. Hughes 1958 Zorro (TV Series) 1958 Jefferson Drum (TV Series) Craig 1956-1958 Playhouse 90 (TV Series) Lewis 1958 The Thin Man (TV Series) Rosie 1958 Wagon Train (TV Series) Sgt. Broderick 1958 Zane Grey Theater (TV Series) Matt 1957 Colt .45 (TV Series) Will 1971 Drei mal neun (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode) - Bayernhalle in München (1971) ... (performer: "Ich bin der dicke Hoss") 1969 The Johnny Cash Show (TV Series) (performer - 1 episode) - Episode #1.2 (1969) ...

(performer: "Folsom Prison Blues") Hide 1973 The Long Goodbye (with special remembrance for) Hide 1971 V.I.P.-Schaukel (TV Series documentary) Himself 1971 Drei mal neun (TV Series) Himself - Musician 1970-1971 Sesame Street (TV Series) Himself 1970 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (TV Series) Himself - Guest Performer 1960-1961 Here's Hollywood (TV Series) Himself 1971-1975 Sesame Street (TV Series) Himself Stage: Appeared (Broadway debut) in "King Lear" on Broadway. See more » Publicity Listings: 1 Interview | 24 Articles | 23 Magazine Cover Photos | See more » Alternate Names: Dan Davis Blocker | Don Blocker Height: Did You Know? Personal Quote: [advice his father gave him] "Son, the rate you're growing you're going to be one helluva big fella. If you use your size and strength properly it can be a wonderful thing for you.

If you don't, Heaven help you. One day you'll start pushing some little guy around and he'll pull a gun and blow your brains out." See more » Trivia: All of his children studied karate under Chuck Norris . See more » Star Sign: The First Time a TV Show Addressed the Death of a Character | Mental Floss The First Time a TV Show Addressed the Death of a Character Image credit: Like us on Facebook Tonight, the popular TV series Two and a Half Men will deal with the death of the show's lead character, Charlie Harper, played by Charlie Sheen (as if you didn't know). The notorious but irrepressible Sheen made headlines a few months ago by not only jumping ship on the show, but by also making a few "ill-advised" remarks about the show, and especially about the show's creator, Chuck Lorre. It's a safe bet that Two and a Half Men will garner big ratings from those curious about Charlie's "passing" and how it will be handled. The death of a show's character has become fairly commonplace nowadays, but it wasn't always that way.

Let's take a look at the first time a TV show dealt with the actual death of not only a character, but a beloved friend. The Death of Dan Blocker After 13 seasons of playing Hoss Cartwright, the easy-going, "gentle giant" brother on Bonanza, actor Dan Blocker died unexpectedly, shortly before filming was to begin for the final season (1972-1973). Only 43 at the time of his death, Blocker died on May 13, 1972, of a pulmonary embolism (a post-op blood clot to the lungs) following a "routine" gall bladder surgery. Blocker was universally loved by cast and crew alike. According to Mitch Vogel, who played Jamie in the last few seasons of Bonanza, "Dan Blocker was easy to get to know—the kind of guy you could go and have a beer with." "After Dan's death," said Lorne Green (who starred as Ben Cartwright, father to Hoss), "I didn't see how the show could continue. I said to my wife, 'That's it.

It's finished.'" After Blocker's unexpected death, it was decided that his character Hoss would be killed in an accident in an episode of the show. This was to be the first time in television history that a show had dealt with, or even mentioned, the death of one of its characters. "Just as we personally suffered a loss," explained Bonanza producer Richard Collins, "so the audience suffered one, too." The Episode The episode, titled "Forever," was originally written to include Blocker as Hoss and, in fact, to showcase his acting talent. The two-part episode was written by Michael Landon, who also starred as Hoss' brother "Little Joe" Cartwright. In it, Hoss was to fall deeply in love with Alice Harper (played by Bonnie Bedelia). Instead, Landon took the starring role, and the episode sees him falling in love with, getting engaged to, and marrying Alice Harper. Unfortunately, Alice has a ne'er-do-well brother heavily in debt to a ruthless gambler named Sloan, who pays a visit to Alice. When she refuses to cooperate with Sloan and his men, one of Sloan's henchmen ruthlessly beats to death the new Mrs. Cartwright (who was pregnant at the time).

To cover up their crime, Sloan's men burn down the cabin. The rest of the episode deals with Little Joe's loss and the family's grief, before Little Joe tracks down Sloan and his gang. The Lack of Hoss While "Forever" never directly dealt with the actual circumstances of Hoss' (or Blocker's) death, many scenes were obvious references. Said Landon about the episode: "We try to mention Hoss' death very simply, in passing... it might not please everybody. I'm sure that some people would rather have a whole hour memorial to Dan, but we just couldn't do that." He added, "We tried to do what we thought he would have wanted us to do." Though intended to be slightly subtle, the oblique references to Hoss/Blocker were almost all too clear. In one scene, after taking her to see a location, Joe says to his bride, "My big brother and I used to call this 'the happy place,'" to which she replies, "You must have loved him very much." His realistically wistful reaction tells her the truth.

In another scene, Ben Cartwright states, "I know what it's like to lose a son;" he's later seen looking longingly at a picture of Hoss. Another touching scene involves Joe kneeling at his deceased wife's grave, saying, "I love you." But by far the most emotional scene is when Ben and Joe visit the burnt remains of the cabin where Joe's wife and unborn son were killed. In the scene, Landon collapses into Greene's arms and the two are seen shaking and crying. It was plainly obvious to the entire cast and crew that these were not fake or "crocodile" tears; the two stars were weeping for real, for their beloved friend and co-star. (After the director yelled "Cut!", many of the cast and crew joined the two stars in their open grief and wept.) Throughout that final season of the show, Ben Cartwright speaks of the loss of his beloved son Hoss, though exactly how Hoss died is never explained. It wasn't revealed until years later, in the syndicated follow-up series Bonanza: The Next Generation (1988), that Hoss drowned trying to save another man's life.

Filming While Grieving The episode was actually cathartic for the show's stars, as well as the crew. As soon as shooting began, the cast and crew were reminiscing about "when Dan did this" and "the joke Dan played" and "remember when Dan..." According to Landon, who also directed the episode in addition to writing and starring in it, the first scene they had to film was the worst. The scene took place in the Cartwright dining room; "dining room scenes" were always the dullest, deadest scenes of any Bonanza episode, usually just an excuse for exposition of the episode's plot. Lorne Greene and Landon kept recalling the many laughs they had shared with Blocker in the Cartwright dining room. (Somehow, because the dining room scenes were usually so serious, they had always shared the most laughs while filming them.) The Ratings Although "Forever" did garner huge ratings for the show, Bonanza was clearly on its last legs, despite its lingering popularity. A perennial top ten show, it had fallen out of the top ten for the first time during the previous season.

The show had also been switched from its famous "Sunday night at 9 o'clock" time slot to Tuesdays at 8. Every TV show that gets cancelled has "reasons" to explain its demise; in Bonanza's case, there were the stories of how, in its new time slot, it was "put up against popular TV 'Movies of the Week,' including Ben-Hur and Cleopatra. But the fact of the matter is that no one really cared to watch the show any more after the passing of the beloved Hoss. Somehow it just wasn't the same. The show fulfilled its dismal final season of 1972-1973, then went off into rerun and syndication heaven, the final resting place of even the greatest of TV shows. The final season of Bonanza, the "season without Hoss," is by far the least popular and least requested season in the show's rerun package.

Dan Blocker - Biography - IMDb Dan Blocker Biography Showing all 43 items Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trivia (31) | Personal Quotes (5) | Salary (1) Overview (4) 6' 4" (1.93 m) Mini Bio (1) Dan Blocker is one of the true television immortals, having played Hoss Cartwright -- the heart and soul of Bonanza (1959) -- for 13 seasons, before his untimely death in 1972 at the age of 43. "Bonanza" was the most popular TV series of the 1960s, ranked #1 for three straight seasons (1964-65 through 1966-67) and spending a then-unprecedented nine seasons in the Top 5. After Blocker's death, "Bonanza" -- still in the Top 20 with Hoss after being #8 the previous year -- didn't last another entire season. The character of Hoss was conceived as a stereotype: The Gentle Giant.

The 6'4", 300 lbs. Blocker filled Hoss's cowboy boots and ten-gallon hat admirably but brought something extra to the role, a warmth and empathy that helped ground the show. Personal accounts of Blocker testify to the fact that the man was gregarious and friendly to everyone. He brought that upbeat personality to the character of Hoss. Hoss originally had been conceived as dull-witted, but ironically, Dan Blocker's professional acting career was assured after he moved his family to California so he could pursue a PhD at U.C.L.A. A native of West Texas, he reportedly was discovered while making a call in a phone booth while outfitted in Western garb, including a straw cowboy hat, his standard dress being a native son of Texas, soon after arriving in California. Even after being cast in "Bonanza", he intended to complete his PhD, but the great success of the series made that impossible, due to the work load of 30+ episodes per year necessitating a 7AM-9PM work schedule five days a week.

Donny Dany Blocker made his debut on December 10, 1928 in De Kalb, Texas, weighing in at 14 lbs. He reportedly was the biggest baby ever born in Bowie County. By the age of 12, he already was 6' tall and weighed 200 lbs. (Towards the end of "Bonanza", he reportedly had ballooned past his stated weight of 300 to as much as 365 lbs.) A "TV Guide" story after his death reported that back in Texas, the young Dan once lifted a car off of a man after it slid off a jack and pinned him under the auto. "My daddy used to say that I was too big to ride and too little to hitch a wagon to," Blocker said, "no good for a damn thing." His father Ora Blocker was hurt by the Great Depression that began the year after his son Dan's birth. He moved his family to O'Donnell, which is just south of Lubbock, where he ran a grocery store.

His "no good" son went to the Texas Military Institute, and in 1946 started his undergraduate work at Hardin-Simmons University (Abilene, Texas), where he played football. It was there he fell in love with acting when he was recruited by a girlfriend to play a role in campus production of Arsenic and Old Lace as they needed a strong man to lift the bodies that the spinster aunts had dispatched up from the cellar. After graduating in 1950 with a degree in English, Blocker went east where he did repertory work in Boston. A 1960 "TV Guide" article says that he appeared on Broadway in the 1950-51 production of King Lear, which starred Louis Calhern . The draft soon ended his apprenticeship, and he served in the Army in the Korean War, making sergeant. After being demobilized in 1952, he attended attended Sul Ross State Teacher's College (Alpine, Texas), earning a master's degree in dramatic arts. He taught English and drama at a Sonora, Texas high school before moving to Carlsbad, New Mexico, where he taught sixth grade.

He then moved his family to California, where he again taught school while preparing for his PhD studies. Blocker picked up bit parts in television, making his debut as a bartender in The Sheriff of Cochise (1956). His career rise was steady and rapid, and he appeared on many Westerns, including Gunsmoke (1955), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), The Rifleman (1958), and Maverick (1957). He claimed his turn as Hognose Hughes on "Maverick", the comic Western starring James Garner , was the seminal role of his career. As Hoss, Blocker would often star in light-hearted episodes on "Bonanza". He was cast in the recurring role of "Tiny" Carl Budinger in the short lived Western series, Cimarron City (1958). Its cancellation after one season made him available for "Bonanza", which was "Cimarron City" creator David Dortort 's next project. He had previously appeared on Dortort's Western series, The Restless Gun (1957).

"Bonanza" debuted in September 1959 on Saturdays at 7:30PM on N.B.C., which was owned by R.C.A., opposite the popular Perry Mason (1957), the #10 rated show for the 1959-60 season. The new Western was shot in color, and R.C.A. made color TV sets and saw the program as a good advertisement for its wares. The company sponsored the first two seasons of the show, and the sponsorship and R.C.A.'s ownership of N.B.C. was likely why it wasn't canceled after its shaky first season, when it placed #45 in the ratings for the 1959-60 season. The following year, it cracked the top 20 at #17, but it wasn't until it was shifted to Sundays at 9PM in the 1961-62 season that it became a ratings phenomenon, coming in at #2. It was the first of nine straight seasons in the top 5.

Once "Bonanza" was ensconced as America's favorite Western, Blocker and his three co-stars, Lorne Greene , Pernell Roberts and Michael Landon were paid an extremely handsome salary that eventually rose to approximately $10,000 per episode each by the time Roberts quit after the sixth season, its first at #1. Commenting on Roberts' departure, Landon said, "After he left we took one leaf out of the dining room table and we all made more money because we split the take three ways instead of four." Salary, royalties from Bonanza-related merchandise and business ventures (Blocker started the Bonanza Steak House chain in 1963), and an eventual $1-million payout from N.B.C. to buy out the residual rights of each of the three remaining stars made them all rich. "Bonanza" made Dan Blocker a very wealthy man, but more importantly, it made him a television immortal. The series continues to be re-run in syndication 40 years after Hoss exited the stage. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C.

Hopwood Spouse (1) ( 25 August 1952 - 13 May 1972) (his death) (4 children) Trivia (31) Had four children: Debra Lee (b. 1953), Danna Lynn (b. 1953), David Blocker (b. 1955), and Dirk Blocker (b. 1957). O'Donnell is located in the panhandle of West Texas, about 40 miles south of Lubbock, Texas. There is a museum located in O'Donnell dedicated to Mr. Blocker. Father of producer David Blocker and actor Dirk Blocker . Father of identical twin daughters, Danna and Debra. Interred at DeKalb Cemetery, DeKalb, Texas, USA. Started and owned the Bonanza steak house restaurant chain. The Long Goodbye (1973) is dedicated to him. Robert Altman , who had directed many early episodes of Bonanza (1959), and had become friends with him, had originally cast him in the role of Roger Wade.

However, Blocker died before filming commenced, so the role was subsequently filled by Sterling Hayden . Attended and played football for Sul Ross State College, Alpine, Texas, graduating in 1950. All of his children studied karate under Chuck Norris . Blocker was approached to play Major "King" Kong in Stanley Kubrick 's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) after Peter Sellers was injured. However, according to Terry Southern (co-writer), Blocker's agent rejected the script as being "too pinko". Best remembered by the public for his role as Hoss on Bonanza (1959). Taught high school in West Texas before becoming an actor. With some repertory theater experience at the time, the Korean War interrupted his fledgling career. He instead returned to teaching school after his military discharge and went to work on his Ph.D at the University of Calfornia in Los Angeles. Finances were a problem at the time and it was then that he fell back into acting and found TV work.

Received his first taste of theater life at college when the drama club was performing "Arsenic and Old Lace", and needed someone to pack up the bodies from the cellar for the play's curtain call. Hardly the romancer, one touching and acclaimed Bonanza (1959) episode had his Hoss character fall in love with a beautiful girl, played by Inger Stevens . Once was considered for a lead role in the movie MASH (1970). Former schoolteacher. Served in the Korean War, a first sergeant with the 45th Oklahoma Division. Attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene and played football. After that he entered Sul-Ross State College on a football scholarship, and was an amateur boxer. While at Sul-Ross he not only won the 1949 Best College Acting award for his portrayal of De Lawd in a production of "Green Pastures," but met his future wife, Dolphia Lee Parker, originally from Alpine, Texas. Was enrolled at the Texas Military Institute in San Antonio when he was 13 years old and weighed 200 lbs. Father was a poor Texas farmer who lost the farm after the Depression. His father later went into the grocery business.

His weight was 14 lbs, at birth, on Monday, December 10th, 1928. He was an activist liberal Democrat and a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War. Taught history in Sonora (TX) High School from 1953~58, appeared in a school play there where he played a bride at the altar. Sonora is located on I-10 in west Texas with a population of about 2000. Took his family on a summer vacation by car from Sonora, TX, to Hollywood and was discovered while making phone calls in a sidewalk phone booth and dressed in western garb, wearing heeled cowboy boots with spurs, a gaudy western shirt and a big straw cowboy hat. His wife and kids were sitting in the station wagon parked at the curb when he was noticed by an agent. Campaigned for Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 presidential campaign but later supported Eugene McCarthy , who ran against LBJ for the 1968 Democratic nomination due to McCarthy's opposition to the Vietnam War.

Dan Blocker Beach is a one-mile stretch of the coastline in north Malibu, California, located at 26000 Pacific Coast Highway. It is maintained by the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors. A 1960 "TV Guide" profile said that Blocker still wanted to finish his Ph.D., but in a 1965 interview with Austin, Texas talk show host Richard 'Cactus' Pryor , he said that he longer intended to complete his degree. At the time, Bonanza (1959) was coming off its first season as the #1 show in America, a title it would hold for the next two years as part of a then-unprecedented nine straight years in the Top 5. Blocker told Pryor that he worked five days a week from 7AM to 9PM. Since there were 34 episodes in the sixth season (1964-1965), there would have been little time to pursue his studies. Weighing in at 14 lbs. at birth, Dan was the largest baby ever born in Bowie County, Texas.

His great grandfather Michael Patrick Blocker (1829-1897) was a private soldier in Phelan's Company, Alabama Light Artillery during the War Between the States, as were two other Blocker boys. The Blocker family lived in the Tuscaloosa, AL area at the time. Until his death, he was friends with Robert Conrad . His son Dirk Blocker worked with Conrad in Black Sheep Squadron (1976). Personal Quotes (5) [advice his father gave him] "Son, the rate you're growing you're going to be one helluva big fella. If you use your size and strength properly it can be a wonderful thing for you. If you don't, Heaven help you. One day you'll start pushing some little guy around and he'll pull a gun and blow your brains out." Being big has its advantages, especially when you're doing the rounds of the agents' offices. They don't forget you in a hurry. But it has its disadvantages, too. You've got to have a bed special made . . . mine is 7 feet long. You've got to be careful when you sit down. I used to wreck a couple of chairs a week in the studio.

Weight is a problem with me. If I don't watch it, it shoots up to around 300 pounds. It bugs me having to go on a diet but there isn't any alternative. I remember breakfast when I ate a dozen eggs, two loaves of bread and drank two quarts of milk. Now I eat like a normal guy and I'm always hungry. If I had been a little guy I'd probably still be teaching school in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Fame frightens me; it truly does, perhaps because I wasn't expecting it. I feel like I have a tiger by the tail. I'm in this business for the money. I need money, like anyone else, because I want to give to my wife and kids a good home and a good life. It's what any man wants to do for his family. Hell, man, I'm just an ordinary guy. My daddy used to say that I was too big to ride and too little to hitch a wagon - no good for a damn thing. I can lose five pounds by walking to the corner store. Salary (1) Did you know Hoss Cartwright on Bonanza was also a Korean War Veteran?

Did you know Hoss Cartwright on Bonanza was also a Korean War Veteran? Njord Kane Dan Blocker, aka”Hoss,” was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. He had basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Dan Davis Blocker (December 10, 1928 – May 13, 1972) was an American television actor and Korean War veteran. He is best remembered for his role as Hoss Cartwright in the NBC western television series Bonanza. He served as an infantry sergeant in F Company, 2nd Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division in Korea, December 1951 to August 1952. He received a Purple Heart for wounds in combat according to the June/July 2013 issue of VFW Magazine. Gibson, Kelly (June–July 2013). “Korean War Vets Made Their Names On Screen”. VFW Magazine.

During his time in Korea, Dan Blocker received the following military awards: the Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal with two 3⁄16″ bronze campaign stars, Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, United Nations Service Medal, the Korean War Service Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge. Five years after serving in the Korean War, in 1957, Dan Blocker appeared in a Three Stooges short film, Outer Space Jitters, portraying the part of “The Goon.” He was billed as “Don Blocker” instead of “Dan Blocker.” He went to make two appearances on the long-running Gunsmoke series in the episodes: “Alarm at Pleasant Valley” and “Thoroughbreds.” He also appeared in several other popular western series throughout the years 1957 and 1958. In was in 1959 when Dan Blocker’s big break came. He’d been cast as Eric “Hoss” Cartwright on the long-running NBC television series Bonanza, whereas he played the role until his death in 1972.

Blocker had also started and received partial ownership in a successful chain of Ponderosa/Bonanza Steakhouse restaurants in exchange for serving (in character as Hoss) as their commercial spokesman and making personal appearances at franchises. Share This: Copyright © 2017 Spangenhelm Publishing – All rights reserved. Read Icon is a subsidiary of Spangenhelm Publishing. No part may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying form without written permission of the author or the publisher, Spangenhelm Publishing. < visit website > 17 Facts You Might Not Know about Bonanza - Neatorama Neatorama • 21 In 431 episodes spanning from 1959 to 1973, the Cartwrights of the Nevada Territory's Ponderosa became a fixture of American life. Let's take a look at some facts that you might not know about Bonanza . 1. The historic Virginia City was the center of the famed 1859 silver strike known as the Comstock Lode. It promptly became the very image of the Old West boom town, with fortunes won and lost, exploited Chinese laborers, glamorous and impoverished prostitutes, and violent struggles with Native Americans.

Samuel Clemens worked as a reporter in Virginia City for two years and there selected his pen name of Mark Twain. In was this varied, colorful era and place that producer David Dortort decided would be ideal for the show. 2. When Bonanza premiered in 1959, the airwaves were saturated with sitcoms that depicted fathers as idiots managed by their wives. Dortort insisted that the show be an hour long instead of a half hour in order to ensure that he had time to depict Ben Cartwright as a father figure worthy of respect. It worked, and Lorne Greene received thousands of fan letters from teenage boys who wished that he was their father. 3. Dortort envisioned Bonanza as an Old West presentation of the legend of King Arthur. Ben Cartwright was King Arthur and his sons were his knights. 4.Did you notice that the characters wear the same outfits almost every episode? This was done to make it easier to work in stock footage when necessary -- not that the show was cheap. At $100,000-150,000 per episode, it was among the most expensive shows on TV during its run. 5.

Lorne Greene ’s father, Daniel Greene, made orthopedic shoes and boots for a living. He named his son after his first customer, a man named Lorne MacKenzie. When Lorne Greene delivered the 1971 commencement address at his alma mater, Queen’s University in Ontario, he gave the graduates advice appropriate for his heritage. Greene said “get yourself a really comfortable bed or a really good pair of shoes, because you’re going to be in one or the other for the rest of your life.” 6. Greene started out as a radio announcer. He was the chief broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and during the Battle of Britain, he was known as "the voice of doom." To time his speaking better, Greene invented a stopwatch that ran backwards. ( Video Link ) 7. Most of the show's actors created musical albums, and all four Cartwrights sang in a 1964 album called " Christmas at the Ponderosa ." Greene was especially successful in this field, and his single " Ringo " was a huge hit in the US and Canada. But I suspect that you'd prefer to hear Greene sing the theme song to Bonanza, which is embedded above. 8.

Pernell Roberts absolutely despised the show and tried to get out of his contract at the outset. It took him six years of steady resistance before NBC gave in. Roberts considered the scripts too low brow, demeaning to women, and indecently glorifying wealth in age of poverty. Roberts’ politics were strongly progressive by the standards of the time, and he pushed producers to have Adam Cartwright marry a Native American woman played by a black actress. 9. Guy Williams, who played John Robinson on Lost in Space , was the first choice to play Adam Cartwright. But Williams took up Zorro instead. Williams was, however, brought on for five episodes as cousin Will Cartwright. The producers invented this character to be a ready replacement for Pernell Roberts if he ever walked off the show. 10. Dan Blocker (Hoss Cartwright) weighed 14 pounds at birth, then the largest baby ever born in Bowie County, Texas. By the time that he was in the first grade, Blocker weighed 105 pounds. While in college, he was recruited to play a role in a production of “Arsenic and Old Lace” that required tremendous physical strength.

Blocker agreed in order to impress a girl who was in the drama department. He fell in love with the theater and eventually earned a master’s degree in drama. 11. There’s a museum devoted to Dan Blocker in his tiny hometown of O’Donnell, Texas. I visited it about a decade ago. Note: “O’Donnell” is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable; residents will point this out if you get it wrong. The dusty old museum is filled with memorabilia of O’Donnell’s favorite son, including the adult-sized clothes that Blocker wore at the age of eleven. 12. The character Hoss Cartwright was actually named Eric Haas Cartwright. The nickname “Hoss” comes from his middle name. 13. Robert Altman wanted to give Dan Blocker a lead role in the 1970 movie MASH , but the movie's producers denied their permission. 14. Michael Landon (Joe Cartwright) was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz. He picked his stage name out of a phone book. Early in his career, Landon’s protruding ears were a problem and he taped them back. Later, he had cosmetic surgery to fix the problem.

15. Victor Sen Yung , who played the Cartwrights' cook Hop Sing, was actually an accomplished Cantonese-style chef, although he never cooked for the set. He didn't earn much money from the series, so Yung sold cookbooks and appeared on cooking shows to earn money after the series ended. 16. Land developers Bill and Joyce Anderson discovered that tourists visited the eastern side of Lake Tahoe in search of the Ponderosa, only to be disappointed. They saw a chance to make money, and so developed a large theme park at Incline Village, Nevada. It opened in 1967 and included a complete recreation of the ranch house. Portions of the show were filmed there, and it continued to attract fans until its closure in 2004. Visitors could even get a full service Bonanza-themed wedding at the Ponderosa! 17. The Ponderosa / Bonanza Steakhouses are, as you can suspect, inspired by the television show. The Bonanza Steakhouses were started by Dan Blocker and the Ponderosa Steakhouses were started by businessmen in Canada. Both are now owned by the same company. Sources: Leiby, Bruce R. and Linda F.

A Reference Guide to Television's Bonanza: Episodes, Personal and Broadcast History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001. Print. Shapiro, Melany. Bonanza: The Unofficial Story of the Ponderosa. Las Vegas: Pioneer Books, 1993. Print. Images: NBC, Byron Browne, The Traveling Wheelchair Bonanza Bonanza It’s hard to think of this show without that well-known Bonanza theme song immediately playing in your mind, and remembering the whole Cartwright clan riding across the Ponderosa. But I have to admit that, as a young teenager, I had something of a crush on Little Joe! Who could resist his character with that handsome smile and beautiful pinto horse? Little Joe and his paint horse were definitely the flashiest combo of the Cartwright clan! To help put you back in a "Bonanza" mood, click on the center button in the video box below to hear that great theme and see some good pictures of the whole clan!

Background of the Show The Bonanza tv show was set in the time during and after the Civil War, and was all about the Cartwright family which included the father, Ben, and his 3 sons Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe. Did you ever wonder why those 3 brothers didn't look anything alike? That's right! Each one had a different mother and none of those women had survived! Wow; Ben had his share of bad luck in that department! Not wanting to mess up a successful formula, the show stayed consistent with that theme - any love interest that developed for a Cartwright man didn't last any longer than a cold drink on a hot day! Here's a little bit about the Bonanza cast - Ben (played by Lorne Greene) was the owner of the very large (1,000 square miles) and very prosperous Ponderosa Ranch, which was situated around Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Adam (played be Pernell Roberts) was the oldest son. He was an architect and built that great ranch house where the Cartwrights lived. Adam was handsome and always dressed in black - quiet, serious, the strong, silent type!

Next was Eric (played by Dan Blocker), but we all knew him as Hoss, who obviously got that nickname because of his size. He was a big guy who looked even bigger in his trademark 10-gallon hat. Hoss was gentle, sometimes naive, and not the brightest member of the clan! And then there was Little Joe (my personal favorite - played by Michael Landon) who was the youngest. He was hot-headed and, with his good looks and flashy smile, quite the ladies man! DID YOU KNOW? Bonanza came close to being cancelled at the end of its first year! But the fact that it was considered a "novelty" because it was shown in color made all the difference! RCA, the parent company of NBC, wanted to sell more color television sets so they used Bonanza as a marketing gimmick and moved it to a prime Sunday night timeslot believing it would attract more viewers there! Obviously they were right; Bonanza was in the Top 5 shows for 9 of its 14 years on TV. All About the Show Unlike the usual shoot'em-up, Bonanza was the first “dramatic” TV Western show.

The episodes were much more about relationships between the cast members and the guest stars than they were about hunting down the bad guy. Each episode usually had a serious theme to it, something "issue-oriented", built around themes such as racism, prejudice and social injustice. This was a first for TV because the networks were afraid of letters they might receive. Another first for Bonanza - it was the first Western to be televised in color. Each show mixed the adventures of one or two of the Cartwrights, their ranching and mining business, and an assortment of characters who crossed their paths in some way. The 4 main actors were considered equal stars but, in case you didn't notice, the credits were rotated each week so that top billing was given equally. A supporting cast of other characters also appeared in the Bonanza TV show.

They included - Hop Sing (played by Victor Sen Yung) who was a Chinese immigrant and the Cartwright family cook; Sheriff Roy Coffee (played by Ray Teal); deputy Clem Foster (played by Bing Russell); "Candy" Canaday (played by David Canary) who was the Cartwright's ranch foreman; Ben's friend Dusty Rhodes (played by Lou Frizzel); Jamie Hunter (played by Mitch Vogel) played the orphaned son of a rainmaker and was adopted by Ben in a 1971 episode; and ranch hand Griff King (played by Tim Matheson) was a parolee in Ben's custody. DID YOU NOTICE THIS? From the third season on, all of the Cartwrights and nearly every other recurring character on the show wore the same clothing in almost every episode! Why? To cut down the cost of refiming. They could use the same footage over and over. Here's who wore what: Ben: Taupe shirt, brown leather vest, gray pants, creme colored hat and an occasional green scarf. Adam: Black shirt, black pants, black hat (sounds a little like a "bad guy"!) and occasionally a yellow trail coat.

Hoss: White shirt, brown suede vest, brown pants, and his trademark 10-gallon hat. Little Joe: Gray shirt, green corduroy jacket, tan pants, tan hat. And, from the tenth season on he also wore black leather gloves. Candy Canaday: Crimson shirt, black pants, black leather vest, black hat and a green scarf. The Cartwrights were America's favorite Western family for 14 years while the show ran from 1959 to 1973. But Dan Blocker (Hoss) died suddenly from a post-op bloodclot in 1972 and the show was moved from its Sunday night spot (crucial to success) to Tuesday night, opposite the new comedy "Maude". Many believe that Hoss was an essential character because he balanced out the all male cast, and that his loss had much to do with the show's cancellation. What Happened to the Actors? DAN BLOCKER died suddenly in 1972 from a post-op bloodclot following gallbladder surgery in Los Angeles. He was 43 years old.

Here's a little personal info about Dan Blocker: He was born in DeKalb, TX and was a big guy right from the start.... weighing 14 pounds at birth! He spent most of his boyhood years in O'Donnell, TX and that town has a bust of Dan on display in the O'Donnell Heritage Museum. He was married (wife's name Dolphia) and they had twin daughters (Danna and Debra) and 2 sons (David and Dirk). LORNE GREENE died in 1987 of complications from prostate cancer in Santa Monica, California. He was 72 years old. Here's some other info about Lorne Greene: He was born in Ottawa, Canada and his real name was Lyon Green. His deep, rich voice got him into broadcasting and, during the early years of World War II, he was known as "the voice of doom" because his reporting of the international conflict was so somber and dramatic.

In addition to "Bonanza", Lorne was in several movies and TV series, such as "Griff", "Code Red, "Battlestar Gallactica", and he had a number 1 hit record in 1964 which was a spoken (not sung) ballad called "Ringo". MICHAEL LANDON had 2 very successful series after Bonanza - "Little House on the Prairie" and "Highway to Heaven". He had filmed the pilot for another series when he was diagnosed with pancretic cancer and died in 1991. He was 54 years old. PERNELL ROBERTS starred in the successful series "Trapper John, M.D." after Bonanza. His last appearance was in an episode of "Diagnosis Murder" in 2001. Pernell died from pancreatic cancer on Jan. 24, 2010. Here are some more details about Pernell Roberts: He was born May 18, 1928 in Waycross, GA and showed his talents from a young age. During high school he played the horn, sang, and acted in school plays.

His involvement with music continued while he was in the Marine Corps, playing tuba and horn in the Marine Corps Band. His first professional appearance on stage was at the Olney Theatre in Maryland, in 1949, in "The Man Who Came to Dinner". Over the next 10 years he appeared in lots and lots of productions, including the American Shakespeare Festival, playing both leading and supporting roles. Pernell Roberts made his television debut in 1956 in an episode of Kraft Television Theater ("Shadow of Suspicion"). From then until he was cast in Bonanza in 1959, he had guest roles in many TV shows such as Gunsmoke, Sugarfoot, Have Gun - Will Travel, Route 66, Lawman, Bronco, 77 Sunset Strip, GE Theater, The Detectives, and Cheyenne. He continued doing theatre productions during this time and also co-starred with James Coburn in "Ride Lonesome". He felt a bit type cast by Westerns but some say those were his finest roles.

He had some reservations about the concept of Bonanza when he was offered the part of Adam Cartwright in 1959, mainly that 3 grown men were portrayed as adolescents needing their father's permission or approval for everything they did. But he accepted the role when he was promised that all 4 characters would be clearly defined with carefully prepared scripts. This never happened, according to Pernell, who considered himself to be a more "serious" actor. While he appreciated the success and popularity of the show, he said that he just didn't enjoy doing it. He fulfilled his 6-year contract and then left the show. Later episodes explained Adam's absence by saying that he was running the family ranching business on the East Coast, or that he was traveling in Europe, or that he was at sea. The last episode that Pernell Roberts appeared in was "To Own the World" which aired on April 18, 1965. The story line was kept open in case he wanted to come back, but he never did. Show Producer David Dortort later said that he didn't appreciate Pernell enough and regretted letting him leave the show.

After Bonanza he returned to his favorite medium, theatre, and played regional and circuit theaters as well as Broadway where he had the opportunity to use his accomplished singing and acting talents. He wasn't thru with television, though, as he continued to guest star in a variety of regular shows. In 1979 he returned to television in the starring role of Trapper John, MD until its final airing in 1986. He received an Emmy nomination for this role in 1981. Pernell Roberts hobbies were reading literature, cooking, swimming, running, and playing tennis. He was married 4 times. At the time of his death he was married to Eleanor Criswell, and he had only 1 child (with his first wife, Vera Mowry). His son Christopher Roberts was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1989 at the age of 37. What do you remember most about Bonanza? Please share your special memories of the Bonanza show and its great cast of characters. Bonanza Memories The Official 60's Site-Bonanza Bonanza Bonanza was the first color western and one of the longest running TV shows.

Bonanza first aired in 1959 on NBC and there were 430 sixty minute episodes produced. The series followed the adventures of the Cartwright clan who owned a 1000 square mile timber range known as The Ponderosa just outside Virginia City. Head of the Cartwright family was Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene)who was a widower. Michael Landon played the youngest son Little Joe with Dan Blocker the middle son Eric "Hoss" Cartwright and Pernell Roberts as the oldest son Adam Cartwright. All three sons had different mothers and all being deceased. There were several cast changes over the years with Pernell Roberts leaving in 1965. In 1967 a drifter named Candy arrived and was hired as a ranch hand and became part of the family. Three years later two other cast members arrived to help on the Ponderosa. Dusty Rhodes, a friend of Ben's and Jamie Hunter, an orphan. The series lasted 14 years but after the death of Dan Blocker at age 43 the demise of the series was evident. NBC moved it from Sunday to Tuesday and that forever sealed it.

Question: In the 1960's TV series 'Bonanza', which actor played the part of 'Hoss Cartwright'?
Answer: DAN BLOCKER